After several late-September heat waves we had the first crisp fall day of the year. And you know what tumbling leaves and warm sweaters mean? Muffin season!

It’s been…a while…since I last posted, but I’m still here. I’m fifteen versions of Killer Zebras in and the end is in sight. But an almost-perfect Killer Zebra is a year round goody; it didn’t seem like a festive enough way to mark the occasion. So I took a break from endless recipe testing and baking chemistry and threw the warm spices of fall into muffin cups. Because muffins are delicious and forgiving. Because nutmeg and cloves and cinnamon are sharp and warm, but pumpkin has a mellowness that wraps around all those flavors like a silky scarf. Because it’s muffin season.

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

1 3/4 cups (218 grams) all purpose flour

1/3 cup oats (35 grams) + 1 tablespoon for topping

1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar

1/2 cup (100 grams) dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Wet Ingredients

2 eggs

1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree

1/2 cup (156 grams) maple syrup

1/2 cup (156 grams) coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Actually do this now, instead of waiting halfway through the recipe to preheat. (You know who you are.) Because muffins are fast and sloppy. They’re actually better when you make them fast and sloppy because you don’t want to over-mix the batter. But that means you might be done before the oven is hot enough unless you heat it now.

The other thing that means is if you follow the basic wet-to-dry ratio of 1:1 you can toss just about anything into a muffin tin and have something pretty tasty pop out. (Hence the Spartan Muffin which is just about the only baked good referenced in Sunshine that I don’t explicitly have on my list. It’s any of these–or any other muffin you might bake–with any substitution.)

In a large bowl whisk all the dry ingredients (flour, oats, sugars, spices, baking soda and salt) together. Pick a bowl where the dry ingredients will only fill it up half way–you’ll be adding the wet ingredients to this bowl later.

NOTE: The bowl I used was too small. Ideally there would be more clearance for mixing.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (eggs, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla extract) together. If the coconut oil is solid, warm it up until it’s liquid.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients bowl, stirring just enough so there are no streaks of flour.

Scoop the batter into muffin tins with either paper liners or lightly greased muffin cups. I filled mine so there was a pinky’s width of space at the top. Sprinkle oats on top for decoration.

Bake in the oven for 22-24 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean.

Let cool on a cooling rack or play hot potato with one like I did and burn your fingers on hot pieces that you blow on and then joyfully pop into your mouth.

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

1 3/4 cups (218 grams) all purpose flour

1/3 cup oats (35 grams) + 1 tablespoon for topping

1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar

1/2 cup (100 grams) dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Wet Ingredients

2 eggs

1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree

1/2 cup (156 grams) maple syrup

1/2 cup (156 grams) coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a large bowl whisk all the dry ingredients (flour, oats, sugars, spices, baking soda and salt) together. Pick a bowl where the dry ingredients will only fill it up half way–you’ll be adding the wet ingredients to this bowl later.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (eggs, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla extract) together. If the coconut oil is solid, warm it up until it’s liquid.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients bowl, stirring just enough so there are no streaks of flour.

Scoop the batter into muffin tins with either paper liners or lightly greased muffin cups. I filled mine so there was a pinky’s width of space at the top. Sprinkle oats on top for decoration.

Bake in the oven for 22-24 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the middle of your least pretty pumpkin muffin comes out clean.